The Ten Most Iconic Female Movie Characters Blogathon

My dear Miss Mutant of Cinema Parrot Disco passed the torch to me of the blogathon that was started by Dell On Movies, namely the Ten Most Iconic Female Movie Characters.

I must say that I think this is an awesome idea for a blogathon, and there are some great choices on here that I would most certainly have picked. Their inclusion, however, meant that I would have to sit and think a few moments longer on this before I could just magically produce a name. Following this blogathon I have loved seeing some characters getting the boot and then being brought back in later by someone else again. It really is a tough little list!

Here are Dell’s rules:

A list of 10 iconic female movie characters has been made. That list will be assigned to another blogger who can then change it by removing one character (describing why they think she should not be on the list) and replacing it with another one (also with motivation) and hand over the baton to another blogger. Once assigned, that blogger will have to put his/her post up within a week. If this is not the case the blogger who assigned it has to reassign it to another blogger.

The list as it stands now is as follows:

Alright, firstly I was horrified to see Lisbeth Salander taken off the list. I know a lot of people are not really big on her and all that, but I think Lisbeth is a fantastic character who stands her ground, doesn’t take crap, and is one strong woman. I know she is also an extremely damaged character, but she makes it work either way. Miss Mutant’s addition of The Bride was great, though, no denying that. Shocked as I was, I am not going to put Lisbeth back on the list, there are other ladies that need recognition, too, so here we go.

Who’s out?

I see that Nurse Ratched has caused quite the war here, being booted off and put back on over and over again. I am going to have to take her off again because as messed up as she was and all that in One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, she just isn’t that iconic to me. If you have seen the movie (and I have), then yeah, sure she is iconic. If you haven’t, the chances of you knowing who she is is rather scarce. But aside from that, there is also not an awful lot that is known about her, which defeats the point of this for me a little. We know she doesn’t take crap from anyone, and I thought she was pretty darn cruel, but there isn’t really much else that I can tell you about her. In my eyes there are far worthier women that need to be included on this list (such as my pick, yes, yes :P)

Who’s in?

Shosanna Dreyfus is a strong one for me. Her character survived hell, and she somehow found a way to make her life work. However, the Jew Hunter was hot on her heels, her escape something that has lingered with him. When Shosanna comes into contact with Hans Landa again, she embarks on a revenge mission that just might not be something she will come back from, and she is totally alright with that. I like the way that she was smart, the way her anger smouldered beneath the surface, ever present, but the way she had still built a life, either way. Her deep desire to avenge her slaughtered family is also something that never goes away, and just the way she finally hatches her plan when given a fantastic opportunity is great. Shosanna handled the hand she was dealt in life pretty well, all things considered. Her love for Marcel also endeared her to me – she could hide her Jewish roots from the Nazis, but she could not hide the fact that she was in an intercultural relationship, and she didn’t mind that one bit, didn’t give a damn what anyone had to say about it. She was just always going to be different from the norms. Mélanie Laurent was just brilliant for the role, too, adding more depth to the character and making her real.

So now that all is said and done, I would like to nominate Natasha of Life of this City Girl to continue with this, I am sure the feminist in you is going to have grand fun my Chemistry Kidney!

Also, thank you so much for helping me out with my graphic Anna! Much appreciated!

Great job here, Zoe! I’m very happy with this choice. Had The Bride already been on this list when I received it, it’s likely I’d have also added Shosanna. I loved her character (she’s my favorite thing about that movie closely followed by the performance from Waltz) and I’m a big fan of the little I’ve seen of Melanie Laurent. And she’s absolutely beautiful as well – look at those eyes in that picture! I went with The Bride as I think she’s more “iconic” overall but it’s good to see another Tarantino woman who often doesn’t get mentioned also get recognized as well. As for your choice of who to remove – I can agree with that too although it’s one of my favorite movies of all time & it’s a great performance. Like you say, though – she won’t mean a thing to anyone who hasn’t seen the movie whereas everyone instantly knows someone like The Bride or Princess Leia.

I actually took Nurse Ratched out, didn’t know someone put her back in. Well I definitely agree w/ you putting Soshanna in, she’s such a great female character, not the typical bad ass girl like the Bride or anything, but still very much bad ass 😀

Interesting choice. I like your reasoning for removing Nurse Ratched, but I could say the same for Shosanna. Either way, she us a great character. Glad to see her getting some love. Thanks so much for playing along.

People my age will always remember the saying “She’s a real Nurse Ratched” meaning someone’s being a real bitch. That was pretty common around these parts as I was growing up. Referring to someone like that was a pretty harsh insult. But…… times have changed. She’s probably more iconic to old farts like myself.

Maybe… or maybe she just doesn’t mean much to us out here. The movie is not particularly popular. Hmmmmm, still, I don’t really feel she belongs on here with the others, she’s just a mean, nasty bitch 😉

P.S. I think you’ll appreciate this. I made a note for myself to get some Advil on the way home and used the last of my sticky note pad so I had to break out a new one. That may sound stupid but –> OCD

Interesting addition, lady! I’m not super familiar with Inglorious Basterds, so I can’t really comment on this gal…but she sounds pretty deserving! Lol. Tarantino is really getting some love on this list, eh? He does write interesting women characters…just wished I liked some of his movies better. Haha. Nice job!!! 🙂